ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com

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TOWN OF LOCKPORT — A Lockwood Drive woman trying to find a job ended up $2,000 poorer — and still without a job.

The woman told Niagara County Sheriff's deputies on Thursday that she had responded to an advertisement on Craigslist looking for a cleaner. She said she spoke to a man by phone who said he had work for her in the Lockport area cleaning large homes. He said he was sending her a check for $1,950 for cleaning supplies and to cover her pay for the next several weeks.

The woman told patrol that she received a check in the mail on July 9 for $1,950 made out in her name from a company in Hermitage, Pa. Along with it, she received instructions to deposit it into her bank account and then put the money into a Chase Bank account with a routing and account number she had been provided.

The woman said that she spoke to the purported employer and told him that there is not a Chase Bank in Lockport. She was then instructed to sent the $1950 by Western Union to an Oklahoma address, which she did on the same date after depositing the check into her credit union account.

On Wednesday, the woman was inside her bank when the teller said that they need to speak with her about a problem with her account. She was told that the check she deposited had insufficient funds and that the check had bounced. She now owes her bank the $1950 along with a $30 fee for the bounced check.

The bilked woman said that her son texted the purported employer who "played dumb and said the check was legitimate."

Patrol advised the woman not to have anymore contact with the man and informed her that she was the victim of a scam.

The case was turned over to the Criminal Investigations Burea.

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Testing of more than 2,500 samples of deer statewide found no deer infected with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced recently.

CWD continues to pose a threat to New York’s wild white-tailed deer, however, as Pennsylvania discovered CWD in both captive white-tailed deer and wild, free-ranging white-tailed deer in 2012. Since 2002, DEC annually has tested hunter-harvested white-tailed deer for CWD. The last confirmed case of CWD in New York was in 2005.  

Public reporting of sick and abnormal deer throughout the year is also important because these animals are collected and tested for CWD. DEC’s Wildlife Health Unit conducts animal autopsies to determine the source of illness or cause of death on many species, including deer.

In 2012, DEC revised the state CWD surveillance program to include information on population density, deer age and sex, and risk factors, including border counties with Pennsylvania.  The goal was to collect samples from the highest risk areas.  For further details on the initiation and timeline of DEC’s CWD surveillance program, visit http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/33220.html.

Hunters going to Pennsylvania and other CWD-positive states are not permitted to bring back whole carcasses. Prions, the protein that causes CWD, concentrates in tissues like the brain and spinal cord and remain infectious to other deer. It is permitted to bring meat and cleaned skull caps and capes back from a successful hunt. The purpose of this is to prevent the importation of CWD-infected material.

CWD is a fatal disease of deer, elk and moose that is now found in 22 states.  It is in the family of diseases known as “transmissible spongiform encephalopathies” or TSEs, which includes “Mad Cow” disease.  No human cases of CWD have ever been reported, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control.

DEC continues to conduct its educational campaign to inform hunters and the public about CWD. Prevention is the only proven management strategy for wildlife diseases. Therefore, hunters are encouraged to protect New York’s deer herd by knowing and following the regulations for hunting outside of New York. Deboning meat will remove the highly infectious parts. In addition to carcasses, urine can also contain prions that can infect deer.

Avoid using deer urine or choose synthetic alternatives. Prions can bind to soil and remain infectious to wild deer for years.

It is also illegal to feed deer. Concentrating deer at a feed or bait pile concentrates animals and helps spread disease. Report sick deer or deer behaving abnormally to your nearest DEC office.  For a listing of regional DEC offices, visit http://www.dec.ny.gov/about/558.html.

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